Golden Gate Bridge median traffic barrier due in January

SAN FRANCISCO — Golden Gate Bridge officials Thursday announced a new date for the installation of a moveable median barrier: January 2015.

San Rafael-based Ghilotti Bros. Inc. has won a $5.6 million contract for work leading up to the installation of the traffic separator. In all, the barrier project will cost $30.3 million, the budget having increased $3.8 million in recent weeks as costs and work were re-calculated.

Because the barrier needs to be assembled on the span, the bridge will have to be closed for up 52 hours beginning Jan. 10. The span would re-open Jan. 12 by 4 a.m. with the barrier in place. Initially late October was the target for the work.

The January weekend was chosen because it historically has low traffic counts. That means a minimal amount of loss of toll dollars and less impact on the public, officials said. Inclement weather isn't likely to halt the work, officials said.

The bridge district has purchased the barrier, which will prevent potentially deadly head-on accidents, and it is being constructed by Barrier Systems Inc., a subsidiary of Vacaville-based Lindsay Corp. It will be up to Lindsay to get the barrier on the span during the relatively small window.

"Time is of the essence," said Ewa Bauer, district engineer. "There are a lot of moving parts."

The bridge has been closed only for high winds, but never for much more than three hours, bridge officials said. In 1987 it was closed to vehicle traffic for the span's 50th birthday, but the roadway was open to pedestrians. Pedestrians will be allowed on the span's walkways while the barrier is installed. Golden Gate Transit buses will use the roadway during the work.

Ghilotti will handle the ancillary work as part of the project: road work, demolition of four toll booths to make room for the barrier and equipment, and installation of crash cushions at the toll plaza, among other tasks. One toll booth will be re-designed to allow for wider and taller vehicles, making its shape different from those remaining.

That bothered some members of the district's Building and Operating Committee, who discussed the barrier issue at a meeting Thursday morning.

"It's a historic structure and I'm not sure we are giving it the justice that it is due," said Brian Sobel, board member from Sonoma County. "Now is the time, if we are going to do something that is aesthetically appropriate."

But any change to the design at this time would delay the project, said Denis Mulligan, bridge general manager. He also noted the toll plaza over the years has been modified so many times — at one point the toll plaza canopy extended over northbound lanes — it's no longer considered a historic element of the bridge that is protected under state and federal laws.

In the future, however, some modifications could be made to make the toll plaza more pleasing to the eye, Mulligan said.

During the toll plaza work the clock will be removed, but eventually will be put back, officials said.

The district has a large chunk of the money for the project from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which handed over $20 million in federal grants. Toll revenue, $8.9 million, and other grant funds, $1.4 million, will pay the balance.

A two-foot-wide moveable median barrier is in use on the new Doyle Drive just south of the Golden Gate Bridge, but on the span freeway-speed traffic remains separated by only small, yellow tubes sticking up between lanes. Workers on a truck place those rubber, 19-inch-high tubes by hand on the roadway every 25 feet to separate traffic.

By January a "zipper" truck will move a one-foot-wide, 32-inch-high barrier made of high-density concrete clad in steel and tightly pinned together to form a semi-rigid structure. No international orange paint will be used for the barrier, but rather a galvanized gray. The barrier will be made of more than 800 blocks that weigh 1,500 pounds each. The truck will be yellow so it is easily visible.

The barrier will rest on the bridge with gravity holding it in place, but is strong enough to absorb major impacts without moving because of an internal spring system.

There have been 36 fatalities on the span since 1971, the last on July 3, 2001, with 16 fatalities occurring in head-on crashes. About 40 million cars a year cross the 1.7-mile bridge.